Topic: Hair regrowth after Chemo
Hair regrowth after Chemo
posted Mon, 19 May 2003 12:22PM
Jeanette
my hair has started to grow back after 6 treatments of FEC. Its now 4 weeks after the tratment but my hair is very fine - like baby hair.Will it come back strong again and how long will it take? can anyone help me as I can't wait to have my own hair back - some sense of normality after such a bomardment of treatments
Hair Regrowth
posted Mon, 19 May 2003 02:44PM
Jackie Calver
Jeanette, don't worry, it'll grow back!I finished 6xFEC in April last year. I was happily wigless after 3 months and could have probably have done it 2 or 3 weeks earlier but I've always had long hair so it seemed too drastic. It grew back thicker and in much better condition than before and I'm just about to book my 5th haircut!
All the best, love Jackiexxx
waiting...
posted Tue, 20 May 2003 12:11PM
mary1959
Hi there!
I'm in the same boat as you, desperate for my hair to come back! My chemo finished in April and my hair had started to come back before that, however it's still very fine and fluffy and rather thin on top, though it is about 1 1/2" long in some places and thincker at the sides. I am getting a bit impatient with it, but all we can do is wait. I sit in front of the mirror for ages, looking at it hoping to see patches of new stronger growth (how sad is that). I'm taking sea kelp tablets on the advise of my chemo nurse but to be honnest they dont seem to be doing any good with my hair or nails, and my skin is breaking out in spots (that mught be due to the tamoxifen?)
I just saw my friend and had a groan about my lack of hair.....she snapped me back into reality by reminding me that it could have been more than hair loss we were mourning.......
Mary x
(No Subject)
posted Tue, 20 May 2003 12:31PM
JJ
My last chemo was March 21st last yr and I was in work without a wig etc at the beginning of June.
It was short...my hairdresser cut the fluff off with a set of trimmers... but after a while it started to grow back at the old speed.
I know we could have friends mourning our death but also they havent lost their hair and they dont know how bad it feels. I remember telling my friend how her hair would grow back and not to worry etc etc and then mine fell out and I was desolute and worried it wouldnt ever regrow.
It actually came back stronger and darker which was a big plus for me as I had fine mousey brown hair.
Once chemo is over it will suddenly start to regrow much quicker.
HAIRY PEOPLE
posted Tue, 20 May 2003 03:23PM
cristie
Hello girls, just a note or reassurance. I finished my last radio session in July and already had a black shadow by then. In the following months hair went nuts. eyelashes and eyebrows almost overnight. Once it's started it'll grow like crazy. Texture is a bit strange at first and mine went very curly but it all sorts itself out. My hair is stronger than it ever was. I had very long hair before and wore a long wig but I now keep it short and spend five mins in front of the mirror instead of the use to be 35. I also had some downy hair on my face grow in but that also sorts itself out. You'll be back to cursing about leg and other unwated hair areas befoe you know it? x
Jeanette
posted Wed, 21 May 2003 10:44AM
Jeanette
Thanks for all your reassurances! It does help knowing I,m not on my own out there! Here's to a hairy future!!
Grow, grow, grow!
posted Wed, 21 May 2003 06:59PM
Pat Millar
I think Cristie might have been a bit lucky, Jeanette, so don't expect your hair to necessarily grow back in a rush. Mine was more like everyone else - about three months before you feel you have a reasonable head of hair, but it also grew back dark, thick and curly and has stayed much thicker than before chemo.
I think the devastation of losing your hair is something no-one else can understand when they haven't been through it. It really is awful and I used to look at my head with a magnifying glass to see how long the hairs were growing! I must be the saddest person of all!! Pat
saddo
posted Thu, 22 May 2003 10:22AM
mary1959
I'm just as sad as you Pat hahaha! I still spend ages looking at my scalp for evidence of new shoots.... still got proper smooth bald patches. It's been about 6 weeks since I finished chemo so it really is early days as yet.It encourages me to remember that no one has said that my hair won't come back. It's very true what you say about the devestation of loosing your hair..... being diagnosed with cancer then to have to lose your hair, even your eye lashes...unless you experience it you can't understand. I can't help my impatience with wanting my hair back, not just my hair on my head, I desperately want my eyelashes back. I want to look like a woman again instead of an old drag queen. (I'm not infering that we all look like old drag queens....just me) I bought some false eye lashes to try buut all I ended up doing was poking myself in the eye and looking a prat.
Anyway.....I've only one more hit of radio (booster) tomorrow then I'm off on my hols.....just got to go to docs for some antibiotics. The poor locum is in for a veritable treat today....I've finally plucked up the courage to get my piles looked at (only because I'm in agony with them) Seems like I've had no end of trouble 'down there' since this lot started! The hospital doc was supposed to have reffered me to a specialist but I reckon it got forgotten along with the refferal for a councellor....
ps. a hairdresser friend said it helps to massage the scalp to encourage growth.....
Mary x
hair again!
posted Thu, 22 May 2003 02:22PM
Pat Millar
I should have said about three months after finishing radiotherapy, as mine didn't really start growing until after that. I guess, to be honest, it was a good five months after finishing chemo and then a VERY short style.
Hair again
posted Thu, 22 May 2003 05:09PM
Sue k
I finished my chemo on Tuesday Hurrah! Had adriamycin and then CMF.6 months in total. My hair started to grow back whilst I was taking CMF and is now about ¼ inch, have even had to have it cut round my ears! It is lovely to feel, like the tummy of a puppy! My complaint, well not complaint but moan, is that it has grown to resemble crop circles! I have so many crowns now, even my eyebrows have grown back the wrong way, and if they were thicker I think I would resemble Dennis Healey! It is grey and I was hoping it would grow back the lovely dark colour of my youth (I am 50 years young)
As we know we loose all the hair on our body, and I lost “down below” first, and that was the first to grow back. It is soft, dark and a lovely condition, not at all like pubic hair! I am thinking of letting it grow and plaiting it! It’s a pity no one will see it as one will have to take my word on this. I do reckon it is a bit unfair… but having said that I am pleased to see hair again, so don’t worry it will grow back
hair today
posted Sun, 25 May 2003 04:50PM
eraina
hi all
i finished my chemo 12th march and my hair has only just really started growing (i was panicking)
anyway its fluffy,quite dry and very grey.im trying hard to keep wig off as much as poss to promote growth,im also massaging my scalp with some tonic (id put manure on if i thought it would work)
my eyebrows and lashes are now back and hair elsewhere sprouting too!
any advise on how soon i can get my hair coloured? leaflet i have says 6 months but i cant wait that long,i dont mind hair being so short so much as the colour,i feel too young to be so grey (39),know its ridiculous in the whole scheme of things but i am vain about my hair :)
any advise appreciated
love rain x
Hair loss
posted Sun, 25 May 2003 10:50PM
mollydoyle
This may read as a bit of a whinge, but it is not really. I's just that I am getting a bit fed up with the 'better bald than dead' line, which some of my friends have come up with, too. Well, yeah, no-one is going to argue with that. And I know it is temporary. But let's not be too diffident about this. Hair loss is terribly important. I do not live in a society which accepts bald women as doing anything other than making a very strong statement. I'm not brave (or beautiful) enough for that. I mind when people stare at me in the street. Of course the psychological impact is properly recognised - which is why we can get wigs free. It is not silly to to care so much about something which could be deemed vanity - is it? (I could go and train as a Bhuddist nun - they shave their heads - but I simply can't wear yellow) Cyberhugs to all you lovely bald people...Molly
(No Subject)
posted Sun, 01 Jun 2003 10:25PM
JJ
Its a yr now since i went into work for the 1st time with my true downy hair showing. God i remember some of that pain. A couple of nights ago I even had a dream about losing my eybrows again.
I also got downy hair growing on my face and started to panic that i would need to shave the damn stuff off (or transplant to my head....) but it sorted itself out.
I also used to scrutinise my head every time i went past a mirror, desperately looking for signs of regrowth.
I used to watch all those hair shampoo adverts of some woman swishing lovely long hair round the place and listen to them say how their products made your hair look thicker etc etc. I am sure they did those adverts just to upset me.
Others cannot know how bad it feels to sit and comb your hair into a bin...or any of the other aweful things we have had to face.
I sometimes take a look round all those intersting hair products in Boots and have bought coloured mousses and waxes to liven it up a bit.I use my Advantage points to treat myself to these.
Is it vanity......maybe in some ways but we live in a society where we do make choices based on what we see. Clothes dont all come in one design and colour. We express our individuality and self through our choices. We send out visual messages about ourselves and I didnt like sending out one about being one-breasted and bald. I struggle big-time with this body image / confidence issue ....and at the end of the day we do have a right to be bothered and want to do somethimg about it.
Image
posted Mon, 02 Jun 2003 08:33PM
nj
Hi JJ
I finished chemo in early January, and my hair has been quite slow growing back. It's 2" long, thick, tightly curled and a totally different colour, and it took me a while to pluck up the courage to leave my wig off for work.
I still jump when I see a reflection of myself in a mirror or shop window! It's me, but not the same me. I remember my father-in-law said, when I told him my hair was gone, that that was a trivial concern. My sister, to whom I am much closer, cried for me..........
It'll grow back its only temporary
posted Tue, 03 Jun 2003 02:01PM
Annabel
I'm with Molly on the fed up of the above line - I now preempt it when people mention my hair loss.
I've worn my wig twice, once where the woman who sat next to me in the restaurant obligingly had a dreadful orange colour hair (not natural) so I didnt look too bad in comparison and then secondly when I put it on so tight I spent most of the evening with a headache wondering how I could 'reapply' in the toilets without anyone walking in ( I ended up just suffering in the end!).
I also went to a fancy dress do and wore an afro wig last week but it was so hot I ended up dancing around bald where my head became public property with people patting it. :)
I hate not having any hair - its not that it looks awful (so everyone tells me) but its just not my choice and we are all entitled to a choice.
Temporary it may be, but its the biggest visual that you can get. That's why its so hard. I'm a confident person, happy with myself and who I am (most of the time) but losing my hair has been one of the most traumatic things I can ever remember going through and has really knocked my self confidence. We shouldnt give ourselves a hard time over our so called vanity. It's not vanity - we are within our rights to want to have hair. Of course, its better to be here with no hair than not here with a full head but we know that - now we have to deal with it.
I tend to wear a hat now - people dont notice quite so quickly.
Mine fell out in patches so I shaved it all off and I tend to get a couple of telly tubby strands in the middle still growing even though I'm still on chemo -I'm now at the stage where I dont know whether to let them keep growing or shave them off to match. dont want to look like friar tuck.
Oh well - moany moany moany.
Happy hairless day :)
Annabel xx
(No Subject)
posted Wed, 04 Jun 2003 09:08PM
JJ
If you want to talk abouyt the sensitivity of others.......
I was diagnosed in oct, op in November and the following Dec we went to visit my fatherinlaw for Xmas. In all this time he had phoned twice and never visited. (Despite living about 2 miles from us).
His comment was "Oh you've had your hair cut short!".
He had never seen me through the months of chemo etc etc without hair and I thought it was highly insensitive of him to put it like that. Didnt he realise my hair was short cos it was growing back!!!!!!
Luckily I had got past the stage of feeling sensitive about my hair and had got to like it short.
Its amazing what some people say.
Compared to dying I appreciate that losing your hair must seem trivial, but men lose their hair over many yrs and its accepted by society. Women losing theirs overnight is more of something that would get stared at. It gives you very little time to adapt to the situation.. and at a time when you have so much more to adapt to.
Sometimes I do feel vain for wanting my boob back. I think I should just be grateful for being here,... but I MISS MY BOOB. They dont know how that feels. They think it must feel bad, but they have no idea quite how bad and on top of being told you have a life threatening disease.
before i lost my hair i thought I was being sympathetic to a friend trying to assure her it would grow back. But when i lost mine i couldnt reassure myself. I was distraught. I thought it would never grow back. I was tortured watching shampoo adverts or seeing people with so much eyebrow hair they could have given me some and not looked short. I can sit here and assure you it will grow back. I wonder now that if i had taken pics say a month, or a few weeks apart i might have been reasuured to see positive changes.
I was such a sad little person i bought one of those image software programmes and scanned in a pic of my hair-less self and played at putting hair and glasses and hats on my photo.
There was an article in the Breastcancercare newsletter about image/ sexuality etc and how people feel guilty for worrying about it when they feel they should be worrying about treatments and cancer and that some health professionals dont like to hear such things. But when I go out in the street people can tell if i dont have hair but they cant see my scars.
I think by calling it "trivial" it almost puts down / ignores the pain that losing our hair causes us.
funny remark?
posted Tue, 10 Jun 2003 07:17PM
mary1959
I had to cash some travellers cheques today that I didn't use on holiday......I handed over my passport and the girl said "you had hair then" didn't quite know how she meant it, but it was a very normal thing to say.......I think.....
Mary, still thin on top with no eye lashes..boohoo!
Short hair
posted Sat, 28 Jun 2003 05:06PM
lynelston
JJ
I hated having no hair, I hate even more having a boob missing and echo everybody elses response re at least you have your life etc etc. My hair started to grow again after I finished my Epi chemo in July last year. February saw the first cut to give it some style and a bit of a colour - mine came back 'salt and pepper' which I didn't like and I have a had another cut since and am due another next week. I am a learning support assistant in a primary school in Liverpool and am constantly being asked by the children 'what made me have my hair cut so short?' I tell them that my hair dresser was a bit scissor happy as I am not happy with them knowing too many personal details and may be even clicking on that I had been wearing a wig for a few months. I used to have a thick head of hair with a just past shoulder length bob, it took me almost an hour to dry, now I have a trendy short style which takes me 10 minutes if that. I can live with that and all of my friends and family tell me how much I suit the short style and should keep it this way, and you know what, I think I will. And one more thing JJ - I miss my boob too. We can put our wigs and prostheses on and no one is any the wiser but I hate that undressed image. I am due at the hospital to see the consultant on 10th July and after over a year since my op.(Op 3 April 02) I will be chatting about reconstruction with him when I go - he has pioneered tattooing a nipple colour to the reconstructed breast - hopefully while I am under anaesthetic!
Take care,
Lyn E
hair regrowth
posted Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:19PM
SarahAnn
hello fellow chemo patient
I would like to reassure you that after 10 chemo sessions last year when I lost all my hair I now have a very full and thick thatch of grey hair as before!